Shapeshifter of Zero
by CodeMonkeyIsland
Summary: REWRITE. Louise was a failure of a mage. When she is desperate for a familiar to appear, the universe sees it fit to grant her with Skynet's most advanced creation, the T-1000.
1. Brewing Storm I

_"It didn't have a wafer-circuit brain to think with. Instead, it was something on a completely new level of artificial intelligence. The molecular brain acted like the rest of the design, a liquid, and it bubbled and seethed with cold, logical possibilities and probabilities. All of them extremely lethal and efficient." _ - Frakes, Terminator 2

_Brewing Storm I_

Today was the first day of spring.

The meaning of the first day of spring was different depending on who you asked. To some, it was merely a date on the calendar. To the people who worked the land for a living, it meant they would soon be planting crops to harvest in the fall. Most people were just happy that the snow had finally retreated and weather was getting warmer.

For Louise de la Valliére, she was sure that this first day of spring was going to mark one of the worst days of her life.

On the first day of spring, all of the Tristain Academy of Magic's second-year students were required to perform the Familiar Summoning Ritual.

Now, this wouldn't be any issue for the magically inclined, unless one tended to get nervous in social situations, and unfortunately for Louise, she did get nervous in social situations, but that that was the least of her worries.

So Louise just stood, silently, awaiting the inevitable.

Out of all of the Academy's students, she was the worst. No matter how hard she tried, how hard she focused, or prayed to the Founder, it was impossible for her to perform the simplest of spells. The Valliére bloodline was perfect, rich with magic. She was the only thing marring it. Louise was the disgrace of the Valliére name.

She took in a deep breath through her nose, seeing the second to last student approaching the summoning circle. She was going to be next.

The teacher leading the students in their summonings didn't call on them in any particular order. Instead, students had volunteered themselves forward in excitement. There was no way Louise could have done that. She had to be last.

Louise's heart dipped in despair when her classmate, a portly blonde fellow, managed to summon an owl as his familiar. She really was going to be the only one to fail this.

Vestri Courtyard was deathly silent as the teacher, Professor Colbert, scribbled down notes on a piece of parchment, using a hard covered book as a writing surface. The balding man turned to Louise without a word, because no words needed to be said. Resigning to her fate, Louise steeled her heart the best she could and stepped forward from the crowd.

Almost immediately, she could hear her classmates whispering all around her. Taunts, jeers, and she could swear she could hear a group of boys betting on her. She ignored all of it to the best of her ability. She'd give a thousand écu's just to shut off her ears for five minutes.

She reached the circle, and turned away from the teacher to face the chalk lines on the grass.

"Are you ready, Miss Valliére?"

Louise swallowed. "Yes," she replied meekly.

She felt a hand placed on her shoulder in an attempt of reassurance. It didn't help. "Just try your best," her teacher advised.

Louise couldn't do anything less, but what difference would it make? This was the moment that would decide if she were going to remain at the Academy, or be forced to return home to the disappointment of her family. Right now, neither option seemed appealing.

Raising her wand in an iron grip as Colbert wisely backed away, Louise began her chant.

"My slave who lives somewhere in the universe!"

The first line of her incantation was met with scoffs and raised eyebrows from her classmates.

"Oh sacred, beautiful, and strong familiar spirit! I desire and here I plead from my heart! Answer to my guidance!"

The result was exactly what every mage present had been expecting: a sizable concussive blast that threw dirt and smoke straight into the air. The force of the explosion knocked Louise off of her feet, and sent her stomach up into her throat. She had failed.

A sob welled up in her, and over the ringing in her ears she could hear the laughter of the entire class. The explosion itself had kicked up enough debris to drape the summoning circle in a shroud of smoke and dust. For now, she was hidden from view, which was just as well. She just wished the explosion had dug a deep enough hole in the ground for her to crawl into.

While confirming all of her fears and apprehensions, Louise's heart came grinding to a halt and her jaw felt like it had just become unhinged.

In the smoke, in front of her, something was moving.

A shape, a blob, writhed and stretched forth from the ground, rising up to take a more defined shape.

It was the shape of a man.

…

The T-1000 looked down at the hole in its midsection, and then up, in an instant, towards the T-800 holding the smoking grenade launcher. Like an egg primed to hatch, the grenade lodged in its liquid metal body exploded, peeling the machine open like a tin can.

It stumbled, unable to find balance on the catwalk in the bowels of the steel mill. The arms and head were in all the wrong places, and the force of the explosion had temporarily rearranged the T-1000's artificial molecular structure into an incoherent jumble. It would take a few solid moments for the machine to recover from the hydrostatic shock of the explosion, but the time required was time it didn't have.

The T-1000 toppled over backward, falling from the edge of the catwalk. If the floor had been waiting for it at the bottom, it would have been no issue, but that wasn't the case. The only thing waiting below was a vat of molten steel. The extreme heat would destroy all cohesion in the machine's structure, rendering it inoperable.

However, as the terminator fell, it never reached the vat of steel. In a brilliant flash of green light, the T-1000 instead fell into a pitch-black void.

Calculations and probabilities flew through the T-1000's artificial mind like rapid fire. Was this termination?

As it fell, objectives became muddled and unrecognizable. Directives were wiped away like the formatting of a hard drive.

There was interference. Something was changing the T-1000's programming.

…

Louise couldn't take her eyes from the shape in the smoke. There was no doubt. It was the outline of a human being, a man. If her gape could become any larger, it would have. She had succeeded in her summoning, and a human was the result.

_How? No… but… what? How?_

A gust of wind flew by, taking the smoke and dust with it. One of her classmates seemed to have taken the liberty of clearing the view of the summoning circle, curious as to what lay inside. Louise couldn't hear if her classmates were speaking, she was deaf to the world around her. Now, she could see exactly what she had summoned.

A man stood before her, his gaze straight and unwavering. His facial features were sharp and expressionless, remaining that way, completely unmoving. Louise's eyes drifted down over his clothing. The dark blue police uniform was foreign to her.

Standing, the T-1000 was processing absolutely nothing. No objectives, no commands, no directives. The machine's molecular structure had taken the liberty of reverting to its selected default template, the police officer. So now it stood, functional, but with no purpose to speak of.

The whispering of her classmates finally reached Louise's ears. Bets had been lost, exclamations were made, and scoffs were let out. Nobody had expected anything like this.

Louise searched around for her wand before she shakily rose to her feet. She brushed herself off, not daring to take her eyes off of her summon. She became vaguely aware of Professor Colbert at her side, also in a state of disbelief.

Colbert adjusted his spectacles, staring at what he could only assume was a human male. The summon didn't return his stare, its gaze firmly directed straight ahead. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, a human was most definitely not supposed to be the result of a familiar summoning. The summoning spell itself was meant to make any potential hostile creatures docile to protect the mage performing the summoning, so was this the effect it had on an actual human being? He could only speculate. Tonight, he knew, he would be hitting the books hard.

"Well… then," Colbert swallowed, firmly gripping his staff. "You must complete the ritual, Miss Valliére."

Louise broke out of her stupor, whirling on her teacher. "W-w-what!? No! There's n-no way I can complete the ritual with something like this! It's a human! A person! A person cannot be somebody's familiar!"

"Miss Valliére…"

"I have to try again!" Louise urged, feeling desperate. "I _have _to try it again!"

"No, Miss Valliére," Colbert said sternly, staring down at his student. "The ritual must be completed no matter what creature the Founder has seen fit to bless you with. To not do so would be blasphemous. The church would label you a heretic."

Louise's stomach sunk in despair.

"I am aware it is unheard of for a human to be the result of a summoning," Colbert continued, his gaze turning on the T-1000. "But there is no discussion to be had here. You must complete the ritual, now."

Louise, resigned to binding what she thought to be a man as her familiar spirit, turned to approach the T-1000 with her head downcast and her shoulders drooping in shame. Louise stopped before the machine and sighed rigidly. She should have counted herself lucky to summon anything at all, but now that this had happened, she would have settled on anything else. A simple cat, a duck, even a lowly cockroach.

Okay, so the cockroach was a bit of a stretch, but this was too weird, far too outside of her society's norm. It was exactly the kind of thing she should have expected from herself.

Louise looked up to the T-1000. The machine still stared straight over her head. "Who are you?" She asked bleakly.

She received no response. Not even a sign of recognition of being spoken to. Louise slowly waved her wand back and forth in front of the T-1000's face. Nothing, not even a twitch. What was this? Had she just summoned somebody completely dumb? Another thing to add to the list of insults and jeers.

As if on cue, she could hear the voices of her classmates, some of them telling her to just get on with it, while others let out whistles and laughs. Colbert quickly silenced them.

Louise's face grew beet red in embarrassment. She may as well just get this over with.

Pointing her wand towards her soon to be familiar's chest, she recited the required incantation.

"My name is Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Valliére. Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers, bless this humble being, and make it my familiar!"

To complete the contract, Louise hesitantly stretched up on to the tips of her toes, awkwardly delivering a quick and chaste kiss to the T-1000's lips.

She immediately reeled back, a little more surprised than disgusted. Whoever this person was, they were ice cold. It was like she had just kissed a slab of steel. A light began to burn bright from the T-1000's left hand, which Louise eyed with interest. Was it actually working?

Colbert approached, interested as well because something wasn't right. The familiar branding was supposed to be a painful experience, but this man hadn't reacted at all.

The runes finished their engraving, and quickly got to work at melding magic and machine. The T-1000's mind was rearranged. New directives were written in milliseconds. The machine now awaited an objective.

The T-1000's head suddenly angled down, staring towards Louise. The girl in question took a step back in surprise, clutching her wand close to her chest.

"Congratulations, Miss Valliére," Colbert said, causing Louise to jump a little. "You've successfully completed the contract."

She had? Louise's heart began racing. Had she actually done something right for once?

"Now, everybody," Colbert began, raising his voice to the entire crowd gathered. "I'm sure you're all very interested in what's happened, and while you all have no classes tomorrow, curfew will still be in effect at sundown. You are all dismissed."

Louise stood stock still as everybody began to leave. A few students lingered longer than others, pointing and whispering to each other. She was barely aware of it. It didn't take long for Louise to find herself alone in Vestri Courtyard with her newly branded familiar.

Glancing around to make sure she was indeed alone, Louise let out a breath she wasn't aware she had been holding. She looked back to her familiar, unsure of what to do now. She had been fully prepared to fail the Familiar Summoning Ritual.

Her familiar continued to stare back at her, unmoving. Louise walked a full circle around her familiar, eyeing it up and down. It didn't move, only turning its head to meet her eyes when she came back in front of it again.

"Um…" Louise began shakily. "So…"

Her familiar didn't respond. It still stared.

Louise's confusion quickly melted away into a light agitation. "Hello?"

The T-1000 returned the greeting. "Hello."

Louise nearly jumped, but held it back. So her familiar could speak, that was good, wasn't it?

"So, you're my familiar then," Louise stated slowly. The familiar in question, yet again, did not respond. It only continued to stare. Louise heaved a sigh, her shoulders drooping. "Follow... me?" She said, mentally cursing herself for letting it come out as more of a question than an order.

The T-1000 took a single step towards her, and then stopped. Perplexed, Louise took a series of steps backward, finding that her familiar quickly closed the distance.

"So you're going to follow me then… yes?" Louise asked, unsure of what she was even doing.

"Yes."

"Right," Louise replied, dragging the word out. She turned on her heel, and began to walk away. A glance over her shoulder told her that the T-1000 was indeed following. So that had worked out then. She walked in the direction of her dorm, feeling that this was completely bizarre and surreal. Was this what happened to a human being when they were branded as a familiar? Did they just become some weird and obedient thing? She had plenty of time to find out.

The T-1000, following after Louise, had received its first given objective under its new directives.

Follow Louise.

…

After ushering her familiar into her room, Louise quickly closed the door behind her, leaning her back on it with a tired sigh. She watched as the T-1000 gave a swift look around the room, before it stood right in the middle and turned to face her.

Her eyes feeling strangely attracted to the floor, Louise decided to ask the obvious question. "Who… are you?"

The machine did not respond. When she looked up, Louise saw it staring. Frustration welled up in her.

"I asked you a question!" Louise said, much louder. "Who are you?"

The T-1000 itself was unsure of how to respond to the human before it. The machine was not a 'who', it was a 'what', or an 'it'. The machine calculated that it would be logical to give the closest answer possible.

"I am a Cyberdyne Systems Series 1000 Terminator," the machine stated.

"W-what?" Louise sputtered in disbelief. "What sort of ungodly name is that? That's absolutely ridiculous." Pushing away from the door, she scratched at her chin. "I suppose I'll just call you 'familiar' then, if that's the case."

Louise eyed the machine again, after receiving no response. She felt her eye twitch. "Hello? Are you even listening? Don't you understand what's happening? You're my familiar now! Do you know what that even means?"

"No," was the T-1000's response.

Louise groaned loudly, ready to pull her hair out. What in the Founder's name was happening right now? Was this some sort of stupid dream? If it was, she was more than ready to wake up. She moved past her familiar, allowing herself to drop onto the edge of her bed. She crossed her arms, and returned the T-1000's stare.

"A familiar is a creature summoned by a mage, who is to follow the mage until one of them dies," Louise explained, her finger poised in a lecturing pose. "Do you get it now? You're my familiar. _You_ are my faithful companion. _You_ exist only to serve the orders of your master," Louise pointed to herself. "That's me. Understand? I am your master. Protecting your master and following my orders is what you are supposed to do. If you've understood what I've just told you, then say it."

The T-1000 processed Louise's words in milliseconds. Directives were added, and placed in order of priority.

"I understand," the T-1000 replied

Louise sighed into her hands. The T-1000 didn't understand this reaction. It had answered the human positively. It didn't logically add up.

"That's… fine, great even," Louise said, looking up. "But would you act, I don't know, normal I suppose? You know, like you're supposed to."

"I am," the T-1000 flatly assured.

Louise couldn't take this weirdness. She had only been in her room a few minutes, but she already needed fresh air again. She stood, and made for the door. Opening it, she found that her familiar was following behind her.

"No," Louise ordered, pointing into the room. "Stay in here until I return. I need some air."

The T-1000 halted in place, watching as Louise closed the door. It analyzed the room it was in. There was plenty of air, with a sufficient amount of oxygen. Why did Louise have to leave the room to breathe air?

The machine brought its left hand up. How or why these markings had changed its programming, the T-1000 didn't know. It didn't work like most of SKYNET's Terminators. It didn't have a conventional CPU to think with. It was not supposed to be able to be re-programmed. A quick scan of the runes found no matches in its database.

Alone in the room, the T-1000 calculated.

In the hallway, Louise hadn't gone far. After closing her door, she had simply leaned on it and stared straight across to the door across from hers. The halls in the Tower of Earth were quiet. She decided to leave.

Louise swiftly descended the staircase that ran around the interior of the tower's perimeter, reaching the ground level after only a few flights. Entering the Tower of Earth's lobby, she noticed a group of students loitering around the decorative fountain. She did her best to ignore their presence, trying not to feel their stares on her as she passed. Louise pulled open the side entrance, exiting the tower into the hallway within the Academy's outer wall.

Here, the hallway was completely enclosed for the first ten meters, but beyond that the passage was opened up on one side to the Academy grounds with evenly spaced archways. Enchanted lamps hung on the walls, activating under the absence of light. In this area, the lamps were always burning away.

Louise realized that supper was being served about now, which would explain why there was nobody around. She stopped in the light of an archway, staring out towards the Academy's main tower where the dining hall was located.

Leaning her shoulder onto the stone, she decided that she wasn't very hungry.

Louise became frustrated, again, but this time with herself. She had summoned a familiar, hadn't she? She should have been elated, literally jumping for joy. In terms of magic, this was the first thing she had ever done correctly. Why did she feel so strange about it?

This human she had summoned, this man, something obviously wasn't right with him. Why did he act so emotionless? Why was he so perfectly obedient? If somebody had suddenly summoned her to be their familiar, she'd have protested it up and down until the day the contract was severed, and then there was the way he stared. It was like he was just staring through her, rather than at her. Had the magic of the summoning ritual wiped this person of what they had been before? Essentially creating a clean slate for her to work with?

This person might have only been a commoner from God-knows-where, but that was something she didn't want to do to anybody.

Louise bit her lip, and began walking. She just needed to stretch her legs for a bit. She was overthinking all of this. Tomorrow was the day the students were supposed to learn more about their familiars, so it would all work out then, right?

…

The next morning, Louise found herself waking groggily. Something cold sharply prodded at her arm. She cracked her eyes open, taking in the blurry visage of a man standing over her bed.

Louise yelped in surprise, her eyes going wide. She squirmed away, becoming tangled in her sheets before falling over the side of her bed in a cocooned mess.

After a moment of silent, Louise's head appeared up over the edge of her mattress, her hair a mess.

"Oh, right," Louise said, yawning. "You're my familiar. I summoned you."

"Yes," the T-1000 replied, staring down at the girl while it stood on the other side of her bed.

Louise slowly stood, extracting herself from the blankets and tossing them down on the bed in a large messy ball. The maids would take care of that. Her eyes drifted to a far corner of the room, settling down on the pile of hay she had placed there for any creature she might actually summon. It hadn't been touched.

The night before, when Louise had told her familiar the hay was the place it would sleep, it had simply told her that sleep was not required. She merely shook her head at the thought now, minor compared to the reaction she had last night. Sleep is not required? Of course it was required! Everybody slept! Who in God's name didn't sleep? What could possibly be next? No eating either?

Either way, it was obvious her familiar hadn't slept and it didn't look the least bit tired. Louise remembered what today was, and decided that she would get some details out of her familiar.

Louise felt her stomach rumbling. She'd skipped supper yesterday. Nodding to herself, Louise decided she was definitely going to get some details out of her familiar, but breakfast would have to come first.

She placed her hands on her hips, and opened her mouth, but said no words. The T-1000 stared back at her, unblinking. Louise had been about to order her familiar to dress her, but that vacant, yet piercing stare, combined with those cold hands, she wasn't sure if she was comfortable with having it put her clothes on for her.

Louise swung open her wardrobe, filled with over a dozen of the same school uniform, along with a few pieces of casual wear. She glanced over her shoulder, staring back at the machine observing her.

She made a twirling motion with her hand. "Turn around, would you?" She asked. The T-1000 obliged, swiftly turning one-hundred-eighty degrees. Louise stared at her familiar's back for a moment, before extracting a blouse from the wardrobe. It didn't take her long to put on the blouse, a fresh pair of underwear, leggings, skirt, and shoes. She sat down in front of her mirror, and got to work at taming her hair. In the mirror, she noticed, the T-1000 was still facing towards the wall. She rolled her eyes.

"You can turn back around now."

The T-1000 did so. "What are you doing?" It asked.

Louise furrowed her brow in the mirror, forcing the brush through a knot. "Brushing my hair, isn't it obvious?"

"Why?"

"Why?" Louise scoffed. "So it looks nice. What kind of question is that?"

The machine didn't have anything else to say after that. Louise's brief fight with her hair was won, and she got up from her chair. She retrieved a black cloak from a hook near the door, clasping it on around her shoulders. "Let's go," she said to the T-1000.

Exiting into the hallway with her familiar in tow, Louise was thankful to find it empty, but that feeling was short-lived. As if on cue, the door next to hers was opened. Louise's tiny face contorted into a scowl when she saw a red head of hair emerge into the hallway.

"Good morning, Valliére," the red-head greeted, grinning wolfishly. The girl stood tall, almost an entire foot taller than Louise. She dressed in the same school uniform, but her blouse had many buttons left undone to expose dark skin and generous cleavage.

Louise brushed a few strands of her strawberry-blonde hair from her eyes. "Zerbst," she growled in return.

Kirche von Zerbst let out a single laugh, looking past Louise to her familiar. "So this is your familiar then? You actually summoned a human, did you? That's interesting."

The T-1000 didn't respond, while Louise clenched her fists. "Yes. I did."

"Really?" Kirche laughed again, placing her hands on her hips. "Because there's a rumor going around that you've just paid off a commoner to act out the part of your familiar. Funny, hmm?"

Louise glared darkly, whirling around and grabbing the T-1000's left arm. She brought up its hand, pointing to the runes. "Look, there are the runes! This is my familiar!"

Kirche snorted. "I see then. Well, unlike you, I've actually managed to summon a proper familiar. Just watch, Flame!"

Out of Kirche's still open door an alligator sized reptilian creature scurried into view. Its leathery skin was crimson in color, and its long tale was tipped with a burning flame. From its mouth, smoke emitted with each breath. The T-1000 stared down at the creature, scanning it. It had no such creature on record in its database. The fact that its tail was on fire shouldn't have even been physically possible.

Louise eyed the creature with contempt. She knew the breed, a fire salamander. It matched Kirche's affinity for fire perfectly.

Kirche didn't get long to gloat. The salamander seemed restless, and once it laid eyes on the T-1000, it let out a shrill croak. The creature turned away, scurrying at full speed down the stairs.

Kirche watched after her familiar, confused. "…Flame?"

Louise couldn't help herself, puffing out her meager chest with a hearty laugh. "A cowardly fire salamander, Zerbst? That's brilliant."

Kirche glared, her brows knitting together. She pointed to the blonde, before taking off after her familiar. "Watch yourself, Valliére," she warned.

After Kirche had disappeared, Louise turned to face her own familiar with a smile gracing her features. "What did you do? You scared that thing half to death!"

The T-1000 glanced down. "I didn't do anything."

Louise pursed her lips. "Really?" She turned away, making for the stairs. She chuckled again. "Cowardly fire salamander. Ha! Serves her right."

…

The pair stood at the entrance of the Academy's dining hall.

"Are you hungry?" Louise asked, expecting an obvious answer.

"No," The T-1000 replied, causing Louise's face to drop in confusion. "Food is not required."

"What are you talking about?" Louise asked, growing frustrated with her confusing familiar. "Obviously you need food, don't try and act cool or something. Come inside, and eat."

The machine stared down at the short human. "Food is not required," it repeated.

Louise sighed in disbelief, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Well, if you insist, then you won't get any food." She pointed a ways away, towards the base of the tower where a group of creatures had gathered. "Do you see them over there? Those are everybody else's familiars. They wait outside while we eat. I was going to make a special exception for you, because I'm a kind and gracious master, but if you insist that you don't need food then you can wait over there with them."

The T-1000 said nothing. It strode, making its way over to the fellow familiars.

Sighing as she watched the machine walk away, Louise shook her head and entered the dining hall. The expansive hall was crowded, filled with students and staff getting their fill of breakfast. Three long tables lined the room, one for each year of student. Louise directed herself to the table where the second-years sat.

As she walked, she wondered. Was what she summoned even a human? Or was it just a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Outside, the T-1000 neared the group of familiars. All it took was for Flame to notice the machine and release its croak once again to send the gathering of creatures into a frenzy. Dogs, cats, birds, an enormous snake, and countless other creatures the T-1000 had no data on fled the scene. They all settled down about one-hundred meters away in the courtyard.

All of the creatures, but one.

A single large creature was all that remained. A scaled beast, colored in a vibrant blue, stared at the T-1000 with large cat-like green eyes. Massive wings adorned the reptilian's back, and rows of sharp teeth were revealed as a heavy breath was released into the T-1000's face.

The machine, unsurprisingly, had absolutely no data on this creature. It stared, scanned, and calculated. It entered the creature into its expansive database as the closet creature it could be related to. The mythological dragon.

Both machine and beast engaged in a staring contest, with neither appearing inclined to look away any time soon. The dragon's eyes blinked vertically while the T-1000's remained open. They both stayed that way for the better part of ten minutes.

"Sylphid."

The dragon turned away, purring at the sight of the human coming towards it. The T-1000 turned as well. The human was short, shorter than Louise even, and had a head of blue hair that ended near her jawline.

"No eating," the blue-haired girl warned, gesturing with her tall staff.

The T-1000 turned back to the creature, finding that it now had its mouth wide open and ready to take a bite out of it. The dragon pulled away, with an almost sheepish expression crossing its face. The girl's eyes rested on the T-1000 for only a moment, before she quietly strolled away with her own familiar in tow.

More students soon filed from the dining hall, confusion evident when most of them saw their familiars sitting a lot farther away than where they had left them.

"Did you scare off _all_ of those creatures?"

The T-1000 faced Louise, who stood with her hands resting on her hips.

"Yes," the machine answered.

Louise rolled her eyes. "Unbelievable. You're definitely not an animal person."

The two left Norori Courtyard, entering into the neighboring Austri Courtyard after a brief walk. This area was much like the other courtyards, the major difference being that there was a large wooden building hugging the side of the main tower. This building was the servant's quarters, where the commoner servants prepared food, did the laundry, and rested. Not far from the building, outdoor chairs and tables had been set up. A steady stream of maids filtered out from the wedged open doors of the servants building, carrying trays of desserts and other refreshments.

"Classes for second-year students are cancelled today," Louise explained as they approached. "They've had this set up as a way for students to bond with their familiars, and for everybody to see what else has been summoned." She had nearly spat out the last part.

Louise found them a table, a little ways away from everybody else. She sat, and gestured for the T-1000 to sit across from her. The machine did so, the wooden chair creaking dangerously. Louise winced at the sound, but ignored it. She stopped a passing maid, accepted a cup of tea and a piece of cake, and sent her on her way. She narrowed her eyes, noticing the dark-haired maid giving her familiar a series of curious glances as she served a nearby table.

Louise took a sip of her tea, finding it satisfactory. It could have used a little more sugar. "So," she began, placing the cup down on its saucer. "Who are you, familiar? Who are you really?"

The T-1000 stared. "I told you. I am a Cyberdyne Systems Series 1000 Terminator."

Louise noticed something curious. The maid that had served her was still nearby, and had frozen mid-step. Had she heard what was just said? The maid quickly moved on, moving much more rigidly than before. Louise put that out of her mind, the help wasn't on her list of priorities right now.

"You have, you have," Louise said. "But what does that actually mean? Are you even a human being? I don't like saying this, but I think I'm starting to have some doubts. Humans aren't summoned as familiars, so really it would explain a few things."

"I am not human," her familiar confirmed. "I am a machine."

Louise snorted, quietly laughing behind a hand. "Okay, no no. Be serious, really. What are you, familiar?"

"A machine," it repeated.

The strawberry-blonde flattened her gaze. "I said be _serious_. You're being ridiculous right now. Has a doctor ever told you that you're not right in the head?"

The machine merely gave its usual stare.

Louise crossed her arms. "I'm not amused by this in the least, you know. I've got enough problems around here as it is, I don't need this as well. You're not convincing anybody with your act, so I suggest you stop before you go any further." She scoffed, flicking her hair. "Unless you've got some proof."

The T-1000 obliged Louise's request for proof. Its forearm changed color to a metallic sheen, and then shifted like flowing wax until it took the shape of a sharp blade.

Louise gaped downward, speechless. The arm of her familiar had just become a blade. Its arm was now a blade!

She suddenly whipped her head around frantically. "G-g-get rid of that! Quickly! Before somebody sees!"

The T-1000 didn't take long to bring its arm back to a normal appearance. Louise let out a sigh of relief, thankful there had been no witnesses.

"So is that what you do?" Louise hissed quietly, leaning forward. "You make your arms into bloody knives? That's insane!"

When the T-1000 didn't offer her any kind of response, Louise shifted rigidly. She looked to the piece of cake, not feeling any sort of urge to eat it.

"You're really not a human… are you?"

"No."

Louise folded her hands atop the table. "So then explain to me, in detail, what exactly you are. From the beginning."

…

Kirche leaned her face onto her hand, staring intently. She didn't bother with socializing or interacting with her familiar – it had fallen asleep anyway – so she simply sat at a small table with only one other person, the quiet blue-haired girl known only as Tabitha. While Kirche's familiar was currently underneath the table, curled up at her feet, Tabitha's dragon familiar was nowhere to be seen.

The subjects of Kirche's gaze were Louise and her familiar, sitting all the way on the other side of the outdoor café. The red-head had been curious the moment Louise's familiar had been summoned, much like everybody else, but after the events before breakfast her curiosity had risen to new levels. Why did Flame have such a negative reaction towards the familiar? What was with the stone cold demeanor?

The T-1000 was sitting with its back to Kirche, so she couldn't see much of what she wanted, but Louise's face was plainly visible. It was obvious the strawberry-blonde had just gotten worked up over something her familiar had done, something she seemed adamant on having nobody else see. Her head darted about nervously in every direction. Kirche mentally cursed up and down that she couldn't see what was happening more clearly.

Kirche sighed. She could have just gotten up and invited herself over there, but that wouldn't solve anything. Louise would just tell her to buzz off, and Kirche knew it wasn't likely she would get anything out of the familiar.

While Kirche had been watching the mage and familiar, Tabitha was ignoring the world, her nose stuck deep in a book.

"What do you think?" Kirche asked.

Tabitha didn't look up. "About?"

Kirche realized that her question had been rather open-ended. "Louise's familiar," she clarified. "What do you think?"

Surprisingly, Tabitha actually lifted her head from her book, staring across the grounds to the subject of conversation. Louise currently had a look on her face comprised of a mixture of disbelief and horror. "Strange," was all the bookworm said.

"Yes, strange, just like you, Tabitha," Kirche remarked, laughing. "Who knows? Maybe you and that familiar would make a good couple."

Tabitha returned to her book, but not without delivering a light kick to Kirche's shin. The red-head only laughed at the action.

After a few moments of silence, Tabitha peered up from her book again. "You're still staring at the familiar," she said to Kirche.

Kirche tore her eyes away. "No, I'm staring at Valliére now. I mean, God, just look at her face." Tabitha did. "I wonder what kind of things her familiar is saying to her."

"It's not our business," Tabitha pointed out.

"Obviously not," Kirche agreed. "But that hasn't stopped me before. I'm just curious."

"Nosy," was Tabitha's correction.

Kirche snorted, shaking her head. "I'm not nosy. This school is just so boring, nothing interesting ever happens."

"You need a hobby."

"I do have a hobby, in other people's business," Kirche retorted.

"A real hobby," Tabitha clarified.

Nearby, a few raised voices were heard, attracting the attention of nearly everybody in the area. Both Kirche and Tabitha turned to see what the commotion was about.

Kirche grinned wide. "I take back what I said about nothing interesting ever happening. I've been waiting on this for a while."

Tabitha turned back to her book, uninterested.

"Do you think Montmorency finally caught onto Guiche's cheating?" Kirche continued, craning her head to get a better view. "I think she has. There's a first-year, I think she's crying."

True to Kirche's words, fellow second-year student Guiche de Gramont was currently on the receiving end of Montmorency de Montmorency's legendary verbal wrath. Guiche was a blonde and good-looking fellow, and was known around the school for his flirtatiousness. Montmorency was a blonde as well, known for being adept at styling her own hair, and brewing potions in her room during her free time.

Most people, Kirche and Tabitha included, tended to avoid going by Montmorency's room for that reason. As well as brewing potions, Montmorency liked to use her skills to create unique perfumes for herself. Entering her room was akin to having about a dozen different bottles of perfume broken open and poured right into your nose. Montmorency claimed that she didn't notice it anymore, but that entire floor of the Tower of Wind had a funny scent to it.

The brunette first-year, however, was somebody Kirche didn't know at all. She knew Montmorency was Guiche's lover, so was this other girl the one he was seeing on the side? Kirche wanted to know more.

Louise and her familiar were pushed to the back of her mind.

…

Rubbing her temples, Louise felt like letting her head hit against the table. "No, no, no," she groaned tiredly. "Stop… just, stop."

The T-1000 quickly clammed up, offering no protest. Louise had wanted to know what her familiar really was, but when she had said the words 'from the beginning' it seemed her familiar had taken those words a little too literally.

"How can any of what you just said be possible?" Louise asked, in a complete state of disbelief. "Machines trying to take over the world to exterminate all human life? How could _machines_ take over the world? They're just machines! It's not possible because machines don't have minds of their own! There cannot be machines walking around wearing human skin and killing everybody they find!" She crossed her arms. "I firmly do not believe in anything that was just said."

The things the T-1000 had told her were far too much for her mind to take in. An entirely different world, technology so advanced that Louise couldn't even comprehend it, and a war that resulted in the demise of 3 billion human souls. Louise didn't even think there could even be that many people, let alone that many killed with even more left to survive. Her familiar had explained to her that it had extrapolated that Halkeginia was a different world due to the constellations and stars not matching up, and the additional moon.

Additional moon? A different world? How could that even be possible?

Then there was the fact that the machines had risen up to destroy all human life. How could machines do that? The machines her familiar had spoken about were unthinkable. How could her own familiar, something so human-like, actually be a soulless machine?

"Everything I said was truthful," the T-1000 said, surprising Louise. She had expected it to not say anything at all.

Louise slumped, running her hands through her hair. "Putting all of that aside, that thing you can do is rather interesting. You can make your arms into blades?"

"I am made of a mimetic polly alloy. I can imitate anything I sample by physical contact."

Louise promptly scoffed. What the heck was mimetic polly alloy? "Come off it. You can't possibly-"

The T-1000 placed its hand flat on the table, its entire forearm taking on the color and texture of the table cloth. Louise tentatively stretched an arm out, feeling the tablecloth first, and then her familiar's arm. They felt exactly the same, although the T-1000's arm was much lower in temperature.

Leaning back in her chair, Louise continued staring. "Alright. That's impressive. So you can do… that."

The machine had yet to change its arm back to normal, so Louise quickly looked around to make sure nobody could see.

"Change your arm back, before somebody notices," Louise quietly ordered, satisfied to find her familiar complying. She took notice of a commotion nearby, leaning to get a view around the T-1000. She spotted Guiche, Montmorency, and the first-year easily. It seemed everybody else had as well. Even a few of the servants had stopped to stare. Louise rolled her eyes.

Louise ignored the nearby argument, playing with a lock of hair instead. "So, I've actually summoned a very interesting familiar, it seems." She let out a haughty laugh. "To hell with Zerbst and her cowardly salamander, this is much better."

That argument between Guiche and the two girls seemed to be migrating, Louise noticed. She clicked her tongue in an annoyed manner. Some people, honestly. She then remembered all of her public outbursts towards Zerbst and her friends with a wince.

"So you say you can replicate anything," Louise continued. "How far does that go, exactly? Could you…" She tried to pick an object in her mind, but settled on her half-empty cup of tea. "Become this teacup?"

"No. Only objects of equal size."

Louise thought for a moment. "What about a very large teacup?"

"That is possible," the T-1000 confirmed.

Looking around, Louise leaned forward. "Can you become another person?"

"I can imitate human appearances," was the T-1000's reply.

"I would very much like to see that, but not here," Louise looked around again, noticing that everybody's attention was on the arguing trio. "There are too many eyes around. I want to keep this a secret." She grinned wide, slamming her fist into an open palm. "At least, until I can find the perfect way to rub this in everyone's faces. Yes, I rather like that idea. Everybody's got their _lovely_ familiars, pah! My familiar can be whatever I want it to be!"

Louise couldn't help but watch as Montmorency, finally having had enough, gave Guiche a rough shove. The boy was sent reeling by the sudden impact, colliding right with a passing maid. Laughter erupted from all around. The maid had been carrying a tray of cakes and tea, which had subsequently gotten all over her uniform.

The maid, Louise realized, was the same one that had served her.

Everybody stopped, including Guiche, Montmorency, and the first-year, and watched as the maid slowly rose to her feet. She didn't look at all pleased with what had just happened, which was very odd considering that most maids would have profusely apologized even if it wasn't their fault. Instead, the maid said nothing, flinging the empty tray onto the ground in an angry manner, and stomped away.

Like everybody else, Louise stared after the maid with raised eyebrows.

Normally, as members of the Nobility, Guiche and the two girls should have gone after that maid demanding swift apology. However, they seemed to quickly ignore what had just happened, and went right back to shouting at each other.

Louise, thoroughly annoyed at the events happening around her, stood. "Come, let's leave. I fear the stupidity around here may be contagious."

…

As the T-1000 closed the door, Louise stood in the middle of the room with her arms crossed.

"Become me," she simply ordered.

The T-1000 said nothing, the texture of its clothing and skin washing away to reveal a shining metal version of itself underneath. Louise took a step backward as her familiar shrank down to her own height while its features shifted and rearranged. It shrank down to her height, and a solid imitation of her hair began to sprout from its head to compensate for the difference in mass. Quickly, it became more detailed. For a moment a metallic copy of Louise stood before her, before the textures of her skin and clothes washed over her familiar's body.

Louise openly gaped. She took a few shaky steps backward, before allowing herself to drop to a sit on the edge of her bed.

It was a surreal experience. It was like she was looking right into a mirror. Another Louise was standing in the room with her.

"Oh… my God," Louise said slowly. "You… you're me! Y-y-you actually look just like me!"

"Yes," the Louise-clone replied.

The real Louise visibly jumped. The T-1000's voice had changed drastically to mimic her own. "You can even do my voice!"

Louise stood from her bed, the strength in her legs returning. She approached her familiar, sticking a finger out to poke at its cheek. It felt real enough, although the temperature wasn't right. Far too cold. The eyes were also an issue. While they looked very much like her own, they lacked any sort of life. It was weird to see her familiar's empty stare coming from her own face.

It was mostly perfect, at least. Louise wondered of the applications something like this could have. She couldn't help but think of a massive list of possibilities.

Louise let a genuine and happy smile cross her face. She'd actually done something right, she'd summoned a familiar. When she thought about it now, she didn't feel frustrated, or unsure. She'd done this, and she'd done it right.

She hoped in her heart that her family would be proud.

…

**AN: Okay, so, you may remember this story. I've been rewriting it, as you can see. I took a long break, and when I took a step back, I realized I was really not satisfied at how this story had turned out at all. The T-1000 wasn't really a T-1000. It was just kind of like some generic shape shifting character. The Series 1000 isn't hard to write now that I've gone about a different way of doing it, because it doesn't have any freaking emotions. I kind of want the T-1000 and Louise to be similar to the T-800 and John Connor, but without most of the weird bonding. **

**The summoning spell and the runes messing with the T-1000's programming might be a stretch, but I needed a plausible way to make the T-1000 follow Louise's commands. Besides, I think this is way better than the reasons in the original, which were kind of stupid by the way. **

**So anyway, I hope you enjoy the reimagining of Shapeshifter of Zero. I don't know how often I'll be updating this, since like anybody here, I've got commitments in the real world, and this is kind of like a side-hobby to my other hobbies. **

**So, yeah.**


	2. Brewing Storm II

_"To the liquid brain, the world was a simple puzzle box of broken reality, the hard pieces easily fitting back into the river of cosmic order. Cause and effect were the closest things to humor in a mind so alien that even Skynet had difficulty understanding it fully." _– Frakes, Terminator 2

_Brewing Storm II_

Louise found herself rather out of place. For some reason she wasn't in her room at the Academy, instead, she was in the city of Tristania's main square. She'd visited the capitol enough times to recognize the area. The statue of the Founder Brimir sat in the middle of a large fountain, and the royal palace stood off in the distance at the far end of Bourdonné Avenue.

People busily milled about, commoner and Noble alike. A small group of children seemed to be playing near the fountain. It was a nice scene.

She wondered what exactly she was doing here. The last thing she remembered was settling into bed, so what had happened? Did she just somehow manage to forget an entire day?

In an instant her ears were filled with a deafening roar and a massive blinding white light erupted from beyond the palace. Louise barely had time to register the horrified screams of everybody around her before she jolted awake in her bed.

She sat up, her breathing ragged and her whole body covered in sweat.

After a few moments, her breathing returned to normal. Relief flowed through her body. It had only been a vivid dream.

Her room was dark. From the dim moon light coming in through the window she could make out the shape of her familiar standing stoically. The T-1000's head had turned to look towards her. It said nothing.

"I… I had a dream," Louise croaked, her throat dry.

The T-1000 stared for a moment longer before it posed a question. "Why do you dream?"

"W-what kind of question is that?" Louise sputtered, giving the machine a tired look of disbelief. The non-human nature of her familiar sprung to the forefront of her mind. If it didn't sleep, then of course it didn't dream. "I don't know… we just dream."

The machine didn't state whether it found Louise's answer satisfactory or not. It just turned away.

Flopping back down onto her bed, Louise drew the covers taught over her body and curled up. Her rapidly cooling sweat caused a chill to crawl across her skin.

Slowly, trying to ignore the T-1000's presence, she drifted back into the embrace of sleep.

…

"So basically," Louise was saying. "The runes on your hand are what make you my familiar. A dragon or a manticore has runes so they obey their masters, so you have yours so you obey me. Without them, you wouldn't listen to anything I say, would you?"

"No," was the T-1000's response.

"Exactly. That's why they're there," Louise continued, looking proud in her explanation as she sat on the edge of her bed. "So now, onto the subject of basic magical theory…" She trailed off, deflating. "That's going to take quite a while to explain, and I have to eat breakfast before my classes start."

The strawberry blonde paused in thought, a thin finger tapping at her chin.

"Oh, I know," she said, standing up. She moved to her desk, uncapping her ink pot and drawing a single sheet of parchment from the drawer. "My morning classes take place in the classrooms in the library," Louise explained as she began writing. "They're normal classes, history, mathematics, literature and such. Familiars aren't normally allowed inside the library, but I'm sure your presence won't bother anybody. I know a handful of good texts on the basics of magic, so while I'm in class you can read over those since you're so interested."

She handed the parchment over to the observing T-1000.

"My actual magical classes take place in the classrooms on the ground floor of each of the elemental towers. Familiars are allowed inside depending on their size, so you can attend those classes with me."

…

With the morning classes in session, the halls of Academy of Magic felt rather vacant. It was during this time the maids got to work servicing the dorms. They collected dirty laundry, changed bed sheets, and gave the general area a good cleaning.

Like the other elemental towers, the lobby of the Tower of Water occupied half of the ground floor. The fountain sat against the wall, and on either side of the decoration were two sets of double doors. Beyond those doors was a university-esque lecture hall, currently packed full with eager minds.

Against the wall near a window was a stone bust sitting atop a pedestal. The lobby of each tower had a number of these that represented important magical figures throughout time; this one in particular was a bust of a Cardinal from long ago. A feather duster brushed over the features of the stone bust, held by a dark-haired maid whose thoughts were currently far away.

"Siesta…"

The maid didn't react. The feather duster went through the same motion over and over.

"Hey! Siesta!"

The maid jolted to attention, finally realizing she was being spoken to. The duster ceased its action as the maid turned away from the bust, seeing another maid standing nearby holding a basket full of school uniforms. The expression on the blonde's face held worry.

The other maid sighed. "Listen, I know we all like to slack off a bit when the Nobles aren't looking, but _God_ Siesta, I've brought down three loads of laundry and you've just been dusting that same statue the entire time!"

Siesta shot a glance at the bust once more before her arm dropped to her side. She had been lost in her thoughts far longer that she had realized. "I'm sorry, Jeanette."

Jeanette's frown deepened. Siesta's oddly accented Tristainian was always interesting to hear, but it seemed there was something weighing on her fellow maid's mind. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"Oh, y-yeah… I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Listen…" Jeanette leaned in close. "I heard about what happened yesterday."

Siesta winced. Oh, _that_. "I… I don't know… I was just having a bad day, that's all."

"You were having a bad day?" the blonde scoffed, shaking her head. "You shouldn't do something like that in front of the Nobles! I'm surprised you didn't get into any trouble."

The dark-haired girl sighed and her shoulders sagged. "I think they just kind of forgot about it."

"Well that's good isn't it? Don't look so down," Jeanette replied.

They both heard the opening of a door. The two maids quickly sprung back into action, Siesta continuing her dusting while Jeanette walked with the laundry as if she hadn't even stopped at all. The head maid entered into the tower, a thin grey-haired woman by the name of Ida. Jeanette quickly slipped out with her laundry, leaving Siesta alone.

"Siesta," Ida greeted sternly, approaching the dark-haired maid.

Siesta stopped what she was doing for the second time. She clasped her hands together in front of herself with the duster still gripped. "Good morning, Madam."

"I heard about yesterday," the older woman stated flatly.

A nervous smile spread across Siesta's face. "I-Is that so?"

"That sort of conduct is completely unacceptable, especially around the Nobility," Ida continued. She paused for a moment, studying the girl before her. "But since nothing's come of it, I'll overlook it this time."

Siesta let out a breath of relief, relaxing. "Thank you."

"Yes, of course. That isn't the reason why I came over here, however."

The dark-haired maid perked up again, listening intently.

"I need you in the library. Elizabeth seems to have fallen ill."

Elizabeth was a librarian who was a short brunette that spoke in a thick Gallian accent. Siesta had only conversed with her on a few occasions, and while they didn't really have similar interests, they managed to get along.

"Oh, of course Madam," Siesta replied.

Ida nodded in satisfaction before walking past and ascending the stairs into the upper levels of the tower. Siesta didn't waste any time in leaving.

She left through the Tower's main entrance, closing the thick wooden door behind her. The Academy of Magic was comprised of five towers surrounding a much larger main tower. Each of the five towers were connected by the outer wall, while at the same time they were also connected to the main tower by long multi-level hallways that spanned across the Academy grounds. The Tower of Void however, did not have one of these hallways connecting it to the main tower. It was disused, and as far as Siesta knew it was only used for storage.

Siesta strolled down the long passage. The bottom level of the hallway was open on either side with archways, allowing her to experience the pleasant spring weather. She paid it no mind.

Reaching the main tower, Siesta immediately found herself in a stairwell. In the main tower, the dining hall was located on the ground floor in the middle, while on either side two sets of stairwells led upward to the ballroom, staff quarters, and the Headmaster's office. Descending the stairs, the first level underneath was the library. Below that, Siesta had no idea. She'd never gone down that far before.

Siesta entered through the glass-paned double doors into the library, thankful to find it particularly empty. She was doubly thankful that nobody was impatiently waiting to have a book checked out. She moved around the side of the librarian's desk, unlatched the gate, and let herself inside. The desk itself was u-shaped, hugging the wall on a slightly elevated platform. A single door on the wall led to a small storage room, and all of the ledgers and papers she needed to record information were present and laid out on the desk's marble surface.

The biggest reason why Ida would have selected Siesta to cover the library shift was because the maid could actually read and write, even if it was only just passable. She realized that she still had the feather duster with her. Snorting to herself, she placed it down on the desk out of the way.

Idly pacing around, Siesta wished there was at least a stool or something to sit on. She was fine with being paid to do almost nothing, but standing in one area for hours could become a little annoying.

Hearing shoes tapping on the stone floor Siesta snapped to attention. There were classes taking place nearby, so it was to be expected that at least one student would be roaming around.

Siesta froze, watching to her right as the T-1000 emerged from an isle carrying a stack of books and then just as quickly it disappeared into another. Her face contorted into an expression of deep hatred while her hands clenched into shaking fists.

_It isn't true! You just misheard it. You're freaking out over nothing. It can't be true. It's not even possible._

Try as she might, Siesta couldn't convince herself to relax.

She hadn't even noticed who was standing before her.

"Hello?" Montmorency said, agitated.

Siesta snapped from her thoughts, whirling on the blonde who had addressed her. Either Montmorency hadn't noticed Siesta's previous facial expression, or she didn't care. She slapped a book down on the desk's surface, which to Siesta's surprise was completely sogged.

"I need a new one," Montmorency said simply, crossing her arms.

Siesta picked up the book, surprised to find a steady stream of water droplets hitting the desk. She could only wonder at how or why students did these kinds of things to their books. She glanced over the title, _A Study of Early Tristainian History. _Turning, she entered into the back room where copies of the student's textbooks were kept, deposited the ruined book into a waste bin, and began looking over the shelves for a new one. It wasn't that unusual for something like this to happen. The Academy was a school of magic after all, and the majority of the students still had much to learn, so magical mishaps were common. Even so, Siesta hadn't heard of many waterlogged books coming in. In fact, she was sure that Elizabeth had mentioned on one occasion most books actually came in charred black, and very crispy.

It didn't take long for Siesta to find a much drier copy of the text. She brought it out, returned to Montmorency without a word, and placed the book down in front of the girl. The blonde accepted the book, looking it over for a moment before she turned her gaze back on Siesta. Her eyes narrowed.

"Have I seen you somewhere before, maid?" She asked suspiciously.

Siesta didn't recall a specific meeting with this person before. That is, until she realized that this was the girl who had pushed the other student into her during yesterday's outdoor café.

Instead of saying what she felt like saying, Siesta lied. "No, I don't recall, Miss."

Montmorency continued to eye her. "You seem very familiar." Siesta didn't say anything, and after a few moments of eye contact, the Noble scoffed with a shrug. "Must be my imagination then," she said.

Siesta watched as Montmorency turned on her heel and walked away. At the other end of the library, she could see that the students were now on their first break.

…

Holding her books to her chest, Louise strolled through the library, checking curiously down each aisle as she went. Spying what she was looking for, she stopped for a moment, raised an eyebrow, and then started down the aisle lightly shaking her head.

In the heart of the library was a small open area amongst the towering shelves. In this area, a few tables were present for those who enjoyed their read without any outside interruption. It seemed the T-1000 had set itself up at one of these tables, surrounding itself with stacks of books.

Louise silently examined the texts present. It didn't take her long to realize the T-1000 had actually gone and picked out every single book she had listed.

"So you've… uh…" Louise began, unsure of what to say. She placed her books down, taking a seat across from her familiar. "You've gotten to reading then."

"Yes," the T-1000 answered without looking up. Louise watched as it flipped through the final pages of the book, snapped it closed, and then placed it atop one stack of books. It then slid another book from the much shorter stack to begin burning through the pages at a ridiculous rate.

Louise rolled her eyes in disbelief. "You're not even reading them! You're just looking at the page for two seconds before you go to the next one."

"I am reading them," the T-1000 assured, not looking up from its task yet again. Unbeknownst to Louise, the T-1000 didn't 'read' like a human would. Instead, it simply scanned a page in the book, analyzed the information in a couple of seconds, and then stored the data in its memory.

Doing this, the machine could blaze through a sizeable textbook rather quickly.

Louise stared for a few moments, before deciding enough was enough. She snatched the most recent text from atop the stack of books presumably already read, and then flipped it open to a random page. She remembered this book from her first year. This particular text outlined the basics of levitation.

Her intention was to quiz the T-1000 randomly on the book's contents. Surely there was no way it could have even retained a sliver of information by just flipping through the pages like that.

"Alright, well," Louise began, clearing her throat. "Typically, levitation requires three things, which are?"

"Concentration, willpower, and a target," was the T-1000's reply.

Louise snorted. She flipped to another page. "Ah! When concerning weight…"

"The higher the weight, the larger the willpower cost for the duration of the levitation," the T-1000 cut in.

Louise gaped for a moment, before she ground her teeth in agitation. She flipped to another page.

The T-1000 continued to answer correctly to everything she asked. She didn't even realize her break was nearing its end until she had three books open on the table in front of her, and two on her lap. Her increasing frustration and dissatisfaction with her familiar was quickly replaced by amazement. No matter what she chose to ask from the books, the T-1000 knew the answer, and it didn't even have to stop reading to tell her.

…

The sound of the school bell, located high in the main tower, drifted across the campus. It chimed three times, signaling that classes had ended for the day.

In the Tower of Earth, a drove of laughing students filed out of the lecture hall, followed not long after by a shaken-up Professor, who seemed to be intent on being sure that her pointed hat still sat properly on her head.

Lastly, slinking out of the room with her shoulders drooping, was Louise.

Her uniform was disheveled to say the least. She was soot-covered, her clothes were torn and frayed all over, and her effort to tame her hair this morning had completely gone to waste.

Louise was incredibly thankful that her dorm was only just upstairs, instead of somewhere on the other side of the school. Normally she would have gone straight to the dining hall to enjoy supper, but the state of her appearance required an immediate detour. She would be eating her supper late when the dining hall was far less populated, which was just as well.

"This is the third time I've done that this year," Louise remarked glumly, stopping off on her floor. She made straight for her dorm. "And it's the fifth uniform I've ruined! It's not like I have an unlimited number of these things!"

"Why did you do it?" The T-1000 asked.

Louise stopped in front of her room, her fingers mere inches from the door's handle. "What?" She asked.

"Why did you create an explosion instead of doing as you were asked?"

Louise's class had been studying the art of transmutation, which was also one of the subjects the T-1000 had gotten a chance to read up on. It ranged from the simple, such as changing a lump of coal into brass, or to the complex, which could involve changing entire structures into different compositions. An entire estate constructed of stone could be turned into a giant pile of sand if a mage had the time, skill, and energy to do so.

All of this constantly conflicted with the T-1000's logic. Magic shouldn't even have existed in the first place, but yet here it was right in front of the machine. It was always observing the things going on around it, taking in all it could.

The task laid before Louise during her class was simple: transmutate a stone into copper. Instead of succeeding in this, she had created an explosion that was really only large enough to hurt herself and create a small mess.

Whirling on the T-1000, Louise's face contorted into a scowl. "Do you think I _tried_ to do that? Well I didn't! Was that not obvious enough?"

Throwing open her door, Louise stomped inside. The T-1000 strode in after, watching as Louise dropped her books down on her bed, threw open the doors to her wardrobe, and then proceeded to select a new outfit while simultaneously trying to tear off the one she was currently wearing.

"That's all my magic can do," the strawberry-blonde muttered, uncaring that the T-1000 was looking her way as she stripped down to her underwear. If it wasn't even human, then it shouldn't matter anyway, right? "Every time I try to cast, there's just explosions! I swear, if I had an écu for every object I've blown up in my entire life I'd have so much money I wouldn't even _need_ to worry about being a decent mage!"

The T-1000 didn't respond, so Louise sighed. She began buttoning her blouse. "You must think this is incredibly funny."

Pausing after again receiving no response, Louise turned to face her familiar. It merely stared back at her.

"Don't you want to laugh?" Louise said slowly, confused. "Like everybody else?"

"No," the T-1000 said plainly.

Louise narrowed her eyes. "So you've got nothing at all to say then?"

After a moment's silence, the T-1000 spoke. "Explosions can be used."

She stared, and after a moment Louise found herself deflating a little, her anger and frustration receding. "I don't want to be like that. I don't want to be some harbinger of death and destruction blowing the world up."

Moving to sit on the edge of her bed, Louise tightly held a pair of socks she had yet to put on. "I've thought about that a lot, actually. I… I don't want to hurt people. I just want to be a normal mage like everybody else, and nobody seems to understand that. They all just hate me."

Her eyes feeling very attracted to her feet, Louise let out a deep sigh.

"Can't they see how hard I'm trying?"

…

After a lengthy day of teaching the fire element class, Professor Jean Colbert found himself in the main tower's stairwell. Holding books and notes underneath his arm, he gave his staff a swift flick. Concentrating, his feet lifted off from the floor at the foot of the stairs and he glided silently upward through the twisting stairwell.

The balding professor had a lot to think about. Being that he was an employed instructor at one of the most prestigious magical schools on the continent, work tended to be on the forefront of his mind. However, something other than lesson plans for tomorrow's classes clouded his thoughts.

Namely, the familiar of Louise de la Valliére.

The familiar itself seemed normal enough, in an exceptionally odd way. During a late night research session Colbert had come up with absolutely no documented cases of a human being the result of a familiar summoning ritual. Despite the opinions of the rest of the teaching staff, he felt that Louise's familiar was definitely something worth noting. It was something completely out of the norm.

Perfect for the anomaly that was Louise herself.

Colbert stopped on the floor above the ballroom, opening a door that led to a circular hallway that rounded the tower. Here, the teaching staff resided in quarters much larger than the student's single room dorms, along with numerous vacant rooms for any esteemed guests that may visit the Academy. In the torch lit hallway, Colbert passed the needle-nosed wind element instructor, Professor Kaita. Neither man offered the other a greeting.

Finding the door marked with his nameplate, the mage unlocked it with his own spell and let himself inside. He set his things down on his desk, laid his staff against the wall, and then shrugged off the heavy robes that made up the teacher's uniform.

He considered preparing himself some tea, but quickly decided that he wasn't much in the mood.

Taking a seat at his desk, Colbert resigned himself to preparing tomorrow's lesson plan. He'd be eating supper late again, but it wasn't a big deal for him. He'd much rather eat in the peace of his own room rather than at the staff table in the crowded dining hall.

As he wrote, his mind wandered again and again. He stopped his quill, leaned back in his chair, and sighed.

His thoughts on Louise's familiar had manifested to a point where he had found himself actually taking it upon himself to do his own field research, secretly of course. One might have called it 'stalking', but he felt the word had too much of a negative connotation to go along with it. He had meant no harm by what he was doing, after all.

In the library, while most students were still in their morning classes, Colbert had found Louise's familiar at a table surrounded by stacks of books. He had watched it for a few moments as it flicked through the pages at a ridiculous pace, before making it a target for a series of spells.

Colbert was an experienced square-class mage, so it was no issue for him to discreetly cast detection spells that showed the results only to his eyes. He had first used 'detect magic', and the results were exactly as he had expected. Louise's familiar held magical properties within itself, which was no surprise considering that it was a mage's familiar. Every familiar should come back with the same result.

When he had cast his next spell, 'detect life', it had come back to him with some rather disturbing results.

If the spell had come back positive, Louise's familiar should have glowed in his vision brightly for a few seconds. However, that didn't happen. Nothing had happened at all. He initially assumed that he had cast the spell incorrectly, or had accidentally directed the spell to a different target. After a series of additional casts, the same result kept coming back to him.

Louise de la Valliére's familiar was not alive.

That seemed a little troubling to him. He didn't believe the familiar could have been a vampire, since it had been walking around in broad daylight, and he also highly doubted that Louise had just reanimated a corpse to pass off as a familiar. Louise couldn't even cast the simplest of spells, so wasn't possible she was a necromancer in secret. If she could reanimate corpses, then she would have no problems summoning an actual familiar.

So then what did it mean? What was Louise's familiar? It couldn't be a human anymore, if it had even been one in the first place.

Colbert decided that his findings should be presented to Headmaster Osmond, but not right now. It was getting into the evening, and he was sure the Headmaster wouldn't want to be disturbed by news such as this right now. Besides, Louise's familiar didn't seem to be causing any trouble. All it did was follow her around.

Tomorrow he would. Tomorrow morning, before classes began, he was going to speak with the Headmaster. Maybe he'd have more insight.

…

Kirche groaned, dropping her quill. She massaged her cramping hand, which felt like it had been writing for nearly a week straight. Her essay was now going on its sixth sheet of parchment, and it wasn't even close to being finished.

She rested her head in her hands, staring towards the bed where the room's owner sat nose deep in a book.

Running her hands through her hair, Kirche sighed. "I can't write anymore. I need a break."

Tabitha's eyes flicked up over her book for a split second. "It needs to be done."

"It's not due until next week!" Kirche reasoned, gesturing towards blue-haired girl. "Besides, I haven't even seen you working on yours."

"Already finished."

Kirche gaped in disbelief. "Seriously? You've already done it?" She slumped in her seat, letting her head hang over the back of the chair. Stretching her arms upward and then letting them come down to rest behind her head, she stared at the ceiling. "I just can't concentrate. That blasted familiar is still on my mind."

"Still?" Tabitha asked without looking up.

"Yes, still!" Kirche groused. She stretched again, letting out a tiny squeak. "I wonder if it's actually human," she said.

Kirche didn't have to take her eyes from the ceiling to know that Tabitha was giving her a look. She looked down towards Tabitha, crossing her arms. "What's with that look? Come on, humans don't become familiars, it's just that simple. He might look human, but…" She pursed her lips in thought.

"You're being ridiculous."

"Am I really though?" Kirche said back. "Hey, you know how some animals react negatively around the undead?"

Tabitha just looked away, a tell-tale sign that she thought whatever Kirche was saying was idiotic.

"What? Listen, yesterday my familiar was scared half to death by him, and he didn't even do anything! He was just standing there behind the Zero with some empty look on his face," Kirche said, twirling a lock of her hair. "You know, maybe Louise's horrid magic was just a cover all this time. Maybe Louise the Zero is actually Louise the Necromancer!"

Tabitha didn't respond, opting to direct more attention back to her book instead.

"Come on, Tabitha," Kirche whined. "At least humor me here."

Still, Tabitha didn't respond. She was close to flicking her staff to cast a silence spell on the red-head.

"Why don't we just find out," Kirche continued, rising from the chair. She took a few paces before a devious grin crossed her face. "Why don't we spy on Louise and her familiar?"

"You're the one who is interested, not me."

Kirche's shoulders sagged as she let out a frustrated sigh. "You've got to have some fun once in a while! Besides, this is the most interesting thing that's happened this year! Guiche and Monmon's break-up is just old news now."

"That was only yesterday," Tabitha pointed out.

"Yes, exactly. That was yesterday, and this is today!"

Tabitha tore her eyes away from the pages in a glance at Kirche. The Germanian had that devious look on her face that she was all too familiar with. Kirche usually had such a look when she was hatching one of her 'plans'. In the Academy of Magic, Kirche was known for many things. She was a bully to some, a good friend to others, and a prankster to all. Due to her incessant boredom with the world around her, Kirche liked to occasionally cause misfortune to others with harmless magical pranks.

Needless to say, Kirche had spent many days after classes in the reflection room because of this.

Resigning herself, mostly to quiet her friend, Tabitha snapped her book closed. Kirche immediately knew her blue-haired companion was on board.

Grinning even wider, Kirche cast a look out the window. The sun was nearing the horizon, so curfew would soon be in effect, but they still had plenty of time. Besides, it wasn't a big issue as long as they remained inside the school's gates and didn't cause a commotion.

However, when things involved Louise, there was almost always some sort of loud of commotion as a result. They'd have to tread carefully.

"We should gather some others for this," Kirche suggested, her heeled boots clunking loudly against the wooden floor as she paced.

"Why?" Tabitha asked.

"Well, why not?"

"Others cause complications."

Kirche rolled her eyes. "Oh relax, we're not going behind enemy lines, we're just going to look at Valliére for a bit. It's also much more fun when there's others involved!"

Truthfully, Kirche didn't really care to have anybody else along. Doing this was only to satisfy her curiosity. She cared deeply for her friend Tabitha, but the blue-haired mage wasn't a big conversationalist on the best of days. Kirche just wanted somebody else to banter back and forth with, and she knew just the person.

"I was thinking of Monmon," Kirche continued, stopping and placing her hands on her hips. "Yes, she'll do nicely. She'll need some cheering up after all, won't she?"

Tabitha shrugged in response, sliding off her bed. Nearly bouncing with excitement, Kirche snatched her cloak from the hook and swiftly left the room with Tabitha not far behind. Like Kirche and Louise, Tabitha's dorm was in the Tower of Earth, only a floor lower. They both exited the tower through the side entrance, making their way to the Tower of Wind through the passage in the outer wall.

Entering the tower, the pair noticed a few maids bustling about with baskets of laundry to be delivered to student's rooms. Neither party spared the other even a glance. Montmorency's room was just above the ground floor, and as they left the stairs they could already notice the odd smell of Montmorency's perfumes.

This was partly due to the fact that Montmorency's door was already wide open.

Kirche and Tabitha stopped, staring at what was happening. A blonde maid was at the door, but it didn't appear she was doing anything work related. They watched as what was undoubtedly Montmorency's arm handed over a small vial of perfume, while the maid passed over a handful of coins in return. The door was quickly shut and the maid turned their way, stopping with a jump when she noticed she was being watched.

"E-excuse me," the maid quietly muttered, scurrying past and down the stairs.

"What was that about?" Kirche asked aloud. "Is Monmon selling her perfumes again?"

Forgetting that, they approached the door where Kirche delivered three sharp raps to the wooden surface.

"Oh what is it now?" Montmorency grumbled as she threw the door open, surprised to find that it was actually Kirche and Tabitha who had come knocking. Montmorency's tension instantly dropped. "Oh, it's you two. Well, come in then."

Entering, Kirche immediately covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve. While Tabitha didn't seem to mind, the Germanian found the fragrances floating around the room to be absolutely overpowering. The pair both stopped as Montmorency closed the door behind them. An odd presence sat on the edge of Montmorency's bed with a cup of steaming tea clutched in her hands.

Kirche stared, and then stared more intently as she leaned forward. The girl seemed to squirm nervously under her stare, and it didn't take long for Kirche to realize who it was. It was the brunette who had been present with Montmorency when she had broken up with Guiche.

"Um… h-hello there," the girl greeted nervously.

Kirche realized that she must have looked a touch ridiculous with her arm covering the lower half of her face. She let the limb drop to her side, opting to just put up with the smell.

"Montmorency?" Kirche said, eyeing the blonde as she rummaged through her sets of vials and flasks.

"Yes?" Montmorency replied without looking, dragging the word out.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything," Kirche continued, pointing to the brunette. "But isn't that the girl that Guiche… um…?"

Montmorency turned to face the Germanian, her arms crossed. "Yes. Yes she is."

Kirche scoffed. "So what, are you holding her hostage or something?"

On the bed, the brunette blanched completely while Montmorency rolled her eyes.

"No, you cretin!" Montmorency growled loudly, moving to her table and lifting her own cup of tea. "We're friends! She's my friend!"

"What?" Kirche narrowed her eyes, motioning between the two girls. "You're _friends?_" She looked to the brunette. "And you are…?"

"O-oh, I'm Katie Monique de Grandbois," the brunette introduced quietly.

Kirche looked back to Montmorency. "Oh. So you're friends with the girl Guiche cheated on you with? That's a little-" The Germanian was immediately cut off when Tabitha rapped her sharply on the back of the head with the crook of her staff. "Tabitha! Come on, that hurts!"

Montmorency rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "Neither of us knew about the other, so it isn't her fault, nor is it mine," she explained as she moved to take a seat on her bed as well.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Tabitha stated.

Kirche scrunched her nose. "What?"

"I believe Tabitha means that because Katie and I have a common enemy in that womanizing pig, we're able to come together as friends," Montmorency explained.

Tabitha nodded in confirmation.

"Oh, I see," Kirche began, looking thoughtful. "So listen…"

Montmorency instantly let out a distasteful groan, hanging her head slightly. "What are you up to now, Kirche? The last time I went along with one of your 'ideas' I ended up spending two hours in the reflection room, and then I even got a rather _unpleasant_ letter from my father!"

"What?" Katie asked, confused. "I don't understand."

"Kirche likes pranks," Montmorency replied flatly. "Because she gets so bored all of the time, she likes to cause others inconvenience."

"Oh, _oh!_" Katie nodded. "I think I've heard of that. One of my classmates had his hair colored violet for two weeks because of something like that."

Kirche threw her head back in a bout of laughter. "Oh, I really enjoyed doing that one. Boys are so easy to lure in sometimes."

Montmorency clicked her tongue. "Kirche, you sound like one of those giant spiders that live underground. You lure others in to your web of pranks and stupidity."

Kirche only snorted playfully at the jab.

"You know," the blonde continued. "I think the only reason people don't retaliate against you is because you're a Zerbst."

Kirche shrugged. "Or maybe they're just not very creative. They're all welcome to try. So anyway, I haven't got a prank planned this time, it's something else."

"That's lovely," Montmorency remarked, her voice heavy with sarcasm. Her face dropped to a light glare. "And I don't want any part of it."

"Oh come on, Monmon," Kirche wined, drawing a deeper glare from the blonde at the use of her hated nickname. "Just think about what Guiche did to you!"

"Yes, that's exactly what I want to think about," Montmorency growled lowly, her cup shaking in her hands as her grip tightened. "Thank you for reminding me. Again."

"Well don't you want to do something interesting to take your mind off it?" Kirche asked, smirking.

Montmorency sighed, dropping her glare. "Alright, fine," she said, pinching at the bridge of her nose. She took a hearty gulp from her still steaming tea. "I'll humor you, at least. What are you up to?"

Kirche's grin turned wide and wolfish. "You're obviously aware of the Zero's familiar, right?"

The blonde scoffed. "I _was_ there."

"The Zero? Louise the Zero?" Katie asked curiously. "Was she the girl who summoned a human?"

"Yes, yes," Kirche responded. "That's what everybody thinks, anyway."

"Well he does look human," Montmorency pointed out. "I've seen him around a few times, and he was in class with us today, remember? So what are you saying? That he isn't a human?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Kirche proclaimed proudly, crossing her arms. She began to pace, circling the table. "For starters, almost all of the other familiars are deathly afraid of him for no apparent reason, and he always has that weird look about him. I haven't seen him eat either!"

"He's only been here about two and a half days, Kirche," Montmorency pointed out. "I haven't seen your familiar eating either, to be honest."

"But haven't you actually looked at him?" Kirche asked, stopping and leaning forward in front of Montmorency. The blonde painfully noticed Kirche's cleavage hanging in front of her for a moment, before she looked away distastefully. "He just stares right through you, if he isn't just staring off at a wall or something."

"Right, fine, yes," Montmorency relented, sighing. "The Zero's familiar is weird, but that fine for her isn't it? _She's_ weird, so it kind of fits her."

"I want to spy on him," Kirche stated, standing up straight with her hands on her hips.

Montmorency eyed the girl flatly. "You want to spy on somebody's familiar? Really?"

"Well there's nothing else to do around here!" Kirche countered loudly, her arms shooting out to her sides. "We might find something interesting!"

The room was bathed in a heavy silence as Kirche and Montmorency engaged in a brief staring contest. Katie was the first to speak.

"I'll… I'll do it," she said quietly.

"See! See!" Kirche said excitedly, pointing. "She thinks it's a good idea!"

Montmorency turned to the girl next to her, eyeing her in disbelief. "Seriously? Really, Katie?"

"Yes," Katie said, sounding more confident as she continued. "I don't want to just sit around feeling sorry for myself. This could be interesting, like Kirche said."

Montmorency sighed deeply, staring down into her nearly empty cup. The remaining tea showed her reflection, which looked much more depressed and forlorn than she would have liked to admit.

"Fine, Kirche," Montmorency began. "But if we get into trouble because we end up out past curfew, I'm going to make your room smell like this one."

Kirche visibly shuddered, her face twisting in disgust. "God, I don't think I could stand that."

…

Perking up from her essay, Louise heard a light knock at her door. She stared for a moment, before deciding to ask who it was.

"Your laundry Miss Valliére," was the response.

Louise turned to the T-1000, which simply stood idle facing the window. She had gotten a little uncomfortable with the machine just standing there, staring out the window without a word to be said. Due to the non-human nature of her familiar, she theorized that it probably didn't take notice of the awkward atmosphere.

"Would you answer the door, familiar?" Louise asked.

The T-1000 swiftly turned around, striding for the door. The machine swung the door open sharply, and the maid on the other side jumped slightly in a brief moment of fright. The machine stared down at the human servant for a moment, before it stepped to the side to allow her inside.

The maid, a brunette, gingerly stepped inside. "Would you like for me to put your clothes away, Miss Valliére?" She asked.

Louise emitted a drawn out 'hmm' without looking up. "Yes, I would."

The maid quickly got to work, throwing open Louise's wardrobe where she began placing the clothes inside with stiff and practiced motions. Nearby, the T-1000 simply observed.

After placing Louise's undergarments in the lower drawers, the maid took her empty basket and made to leave, but found herself stopped feet from the door.

"Maid," Louise called out, finally looking up from her work.

The maid turned to face her. "Yes, Miss?"

"Have some red wine brought up," Louise said, returning to writing.

"Of course, Miss," the maid replied. She tenderly stepped past the T-1000, and left.

…

In the Academy kitchens, the day had long since wound down.

"So, on the night of the Day of Daeg then?" Jeanette asked. She leaned her bottom onto the edge of a nearby countertop.

"Yes," the head chef confirmed, crossing his burly arms. A well-built and bearded man, Marteau had spent his entire career working at the Academy. The only person that had been at the Academy longer than him was the Headmaster, although it was a fact that was rarely acknowledged by anyone other than the serving staff.

"Who else is going?" Siesta asked.

"It's only us from the serving staff," Marteau grunted, clicking his tongue. "A few of the stable hands are coming as well."

The three were planning on the time they were going to hold their weekly card night, which was rarely ever held on the same night each week due to the differences in everybody's schedules. Nobody was able to schedule time together this week, so they had opted to choose the Day of Daeg since the day after was the Day of Void.

The Day of Void was the only day of the week the students didn't have classes, so thankfully it was a slow day for everybody who was working. Today was the Day of Lagu, so the Day of Daeg was still three days away.

Another maid entered the kitchen, looking rather hurried, maybe even a little peeved. The trio eyed the maid as she went for the wine cabinets.

"Hey, Marie," Jeanette called out. "Would you like to join us on the Day of Daeg for cards?"

Marie spared them a glance, before huffing. "No, thank you. I'm not very good at those kinds of things."

"Oh, come on," Siesta whined playfully. "It's not that hard!"

"Yeah, right," Marie said, glaring. "I remember the last time I played with you three. I lost half my paycheque!"

"It was just bad luck!"

Rolling her eyes, Marie turned back to the wine cabinet. She wrenched the doors open. "Yes, of course. _Bad luck_. Anyway, that Valliére girl wants some wine, and I've still got so much laundry left to deliver."

Siesta's eyes narrowed. "Valliére? You mean, Louise de la Valliére?"

Marie cocked an eyebrow, unseen by anybody else as she rummaged through the wine. "Yes?"

"I'll do it," Siesta quickly volunteered, gaining looks from both Marteau and Jeanette as she stepped away. "Just worry about your laundry."

Pausing, Marie too gave Siesta a weird look as she approached. "Um… really?"

"Yeah," Siesta nodded. "Red?"

"Red?" Marie parroted, confused for a moment. She then quickly realized. "Oh, yes, red wine."

Siesta said nothing. She grabbed a half empty bottle from the cabinet and a glass from the rack nearby. She quickly made herself scarce.

Next to her, Jeanette heard Marteau grunt in disapproval. "She didn't even take a tray."

Jeanette sighed. "There's been something on her mind lately, but I have no idea what it is."

…

Striding purposefully through Austri Courtyard, Siesta made straight for the Tower of Earth. The bottle of wine and the glass both shook in her clenched hands.

She thought that maybe if she could just see it up close, then she could be sure.

Nearing the tower, Siesta couldn't help but notice something very out of place. A group of four students, all of them appearing to be female, were levitating about halfway up the tower. They were all crowded near a single window, stealthily peeking inside.

Siesta furrowed her brow, wondering, just what the heck were they up to?

Ignoring that, she entered into the tower. A group of male students were loitering around the fountain, and were promptly ignored by the maid as she moved directly for the stairs. Ascending up three floors to where she knew Louise's room to be, it didn't take her long to find the door she wanted.

She simply stared at the door for a few moments before knocking softly.

Inside, she could distinctly hear a muffled female voice. Almost instantly, heavy footfalls began to near the door.

The door suddenly swung open at what seemed like light speed. Siesta stood stock still as the T-1000 took a moment to stare down at her, before stepping out of the way to allow her inside.

Siesta rigidly entered, and then completely froze when she heard the door close behind her.

Louise, still at her desk, turned to face Siesta. "Ah, yes, the wine," she said, quickly turning back to her essay.

The maid didn't need any prompting to know what she was supposed to do. She'd done this enough times already. She approached the desk, set the glass down, and began pouring the wine with shaking hands.

Glancing, Louise noticed the shaking bottle. "Is there something the matter, maid?" She asked sharply.

"No," Siesta said, retracting the bottle. "Of course not, Miss."

Louise took occasional sips from the glass, while simultaneously working. It felt painfully slow to Siesta, but she knew she had to follow protocol. She was supposed to wait here until Louise was finished, unless otherwise stated.

Turning slowly, the T-1000 came into her vision, still standing near the door. The machine had been staring right at her while her back had been turned. It didn't say anything, or even move, it just stared. Siesta suddenly felt very claustrophobic in this fair sized bedroom. The machine's empty and lifeless stare bored into her.

She'd seen that same look a thousand times before, it felt like.

Siesta turned away, slowly and robotically. When she did, she noticed something in the corner of her eye. Outside the only window in the room, she could swear she just saw a face dart away. She wondered, were those students levitating outside the tower looking in _this_ window? Was this kid being spied on?

What if they had the same suspicions she had? She felt it surely wasn't possible.

"Did you not hear me?"

Siesta jumped back to attention.

"N-no, I'm sorry, Miss. I was miles away."

Louise's eyes narrowed. "Well, I am finished. You can leave now."

"Of course, Miss," Siesta said, quickly collecting the emptied glass. Before Louise could even order the T-1000 to let her out, Siesta was already gone.

Louise stared at the door for a moment, a little bewildered. She turned to the T-1000.

"Did she… seem a little strange to you?" She asked.

The T-1000 did have files on human body language. "She had signs of nervousness."

Louise pursed her lips in thought. Before she could inquire further, she watched as the T-1000 took notice of something on the other side of the room. Louise's head whipped around in the same direction. All she saw was her bed, the wall, and the window.

She turned back to the machine, her brow furrowed. "Did you just see something then?"

"There was somebody outside the window," was the machine's reply.

The T-1000 began moving towards the window, but Louise evidently beat it to the punch. She shot up from her chair, stomping across the room and throwing the window open. She looked all around, unable to see anything. Had her familiar just been seeing things? She somehow doubted it.

"I swear," Louise growled, her hands gripping the window sill. "If that Zerbst is peeking in through my window again…"

Outside Louise's room, Siesta hadn't gone far. As soon as she had exited the room, she found herself with her eyes wide open and her breathing heavy. Being in the same room with Louise's familiar had been a rather intense experience for her, but there was no way she could be completely sure of her theories before she could take any action. She needed to do more spying.

Louise de la Valliére would be seeing a lot of her from now on. That she was sure of.

Since her shift had actually ended a fair time ago, Siesta decided that it would be best to retire for the night. She quickly romped down the stairs, and into the lobby. There, she heard the muffled sounds of the school bell outside, signaling that the student's curfew was now in effect.

Exiting the tower, she found that it was indeed a lot darker now than it had been when she had entered. She took a few steps, and sighed.

She honestly felt like she was just being paranoid, and maybe even a little stupid.

The stem of the wine glass still in her fingers, Siesta opened the bottle and had herself a generous swig. Tasting it for a moment, she had another.

"Enjoying ourselves a drink, are we?"

Siesta whirled around in what was nearly an instant, coming face-to-face with a group of four Noble girls. The one who had spoken, Kirche, stood with a smirk on her face and her arms crossed. Siesta looked down at the wine, and then back up.

"It's after curfew, you know," Siesta pointed out flatly. Kirche's expression didn't change, nor did Tabitha's, but both Montmorency and Katie gaped at how bluntly Siesta had spoken.

"Excuse me?" Montmorency huffed. "Just who do you think you're speaking to, _plebeian_?"

Kirche held up a hand to the blonde, who glared and looked away in response. The Germanian turned to the maid. "Indeed it is."

Everybody was silent for a moment. Kirche could have easily ratted Siesta out for drinking the school's wine, and she knew that Siesta could easily inform the teaching staff that she caught them outside after curfew.

Siesta suddenly spoke. "I didn't see you if you didn't see me."

"Deal," was Kirche's instant reply.

Katie scrunched her nose. "Kirche, you're making a deal with a commoner."

"Yes," Montmorency scoffed, eyeing Siesta up and down. "A maid no less. Kirche, what exactly is the point of this?" She couldn't help but notice the look on the maid's face. Completely flat, or rather, more on the disgruntled side. What kind of commoner would even wear such a face in the presence of a Noble? It was like she didn't even care.

"I just want to talk to her, person to person," Kirche explained. She grinned wide towards Siesta. "Let's just pretend we're all equal for a minute here."

Tabitha remained silent, Katie raised her brow, and Montmorency let out a single and haughty laugh.

"You Germanians… I swear," Montmorency commented. The blonde watched as the maid took another swig from the bottle. How brazen of her! Then, it clicked in her head. "Now, I remember you, from the library. So how are you going to explain all of that wine being gone?"

Siesta glanced at the bottle again. "Miss Valliére happened to be very thirsty tonight." She took yet another swig. "It happens a lot more than you might think."

Montmorency shook her head in distaste, while Kirche let out a guffaw of laughter. It seemed this maid had taken her suggestion to heart. The Germanian quickly noticed the blonde's look.

"Monmon, why do you Tristainians have to be so uptight? That was funny! She's funny!" Kirche said, still laughing.

"She's just a commoner," Montmorency grunted, crossing her arms.

Kirche turned back to Siesta. "Let's just ignore her then."

Thinking to herself, Siesta decided that she would _gladly_ ignore that blonde.

"So, when you were in the Zero's room," Kirche continued. "Did you happen to notice anything strange?"

"Do you mean other than you four looking in through the window?" Siesta asked.

Kirche immediately noticed Montmorency going to say something again, so she held up her hand to silence her. The blonde crossed her arms and fumed silently.

"Yes, yes, other than that," Kirche said. "Something about her familiar, perhaps."

Siesta was silent for a moment, staring darkly. She couldn't have been sure of what exactly that familiar was at this point, but she decided it would be fair to leave Kirche with a warning.

She began stepping backward. "I can't be sure of what it is, not yet, but I'll tell you this: if you want to live a long life, you should stay away from it."

"What do you mean by that?" Kirche called out, watching as the maid turned on her heel to being striding towards the servant's building.

"That's all I know!" Siesta called back.

Kirche furrowed her brow, scratching at her chin in thought. Just who was that maid? What else did she know? With her strange accent, she definitely wasn't from around here.

"Kirche, come on, just leave her," Montmorency urged. "It's past curfew. We'll get into trouble."

The red-head turned to the rest of the group, sighing. "Yes, you're right." She was finished for tonight, but Kirche wasn't done yet. She'd be sure to pay that maid another visit very soon.

…

Inside the servant's building, Siesta eventually found herself in her own room. She eagerly shed the heavy black and white maid uniform, along with her boots. Standing in her undergarments, she raised her right arm.

She ran her fingers over the black stripes on her forearm. The barcode tattooed onto her skin stirred up more than a few memories. It had been there for a lot longer than she would have liked, and it was showing no sign of fading any time soon.

Siesta slid her yellow nightgown over her head, and climbed into bed.

If her thoughts were true, if Louise de la Valliére's familiar was actually a terminator, then she was sure her nice and quiet life here at the Academy would come crashing to an end.

…

**A/N: So, yeah. I actually have nothing much to say this time, other than I hope you guys enjoyed. If you did, leave some feedback, and if you didn't, also leave some feedback. **


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